Brady may have looked somewhat goofy in that Erasure sweater after the game, but secretly I really like "Chains of Love," and I’m old enough now to appreciate brilliant quarterbacking from a WILY OLD VETERAN (old veterans must always be wily). This remains one of the least talented offenses Brady has ever played in. And yet, despite the fact that he had no Gronk (turns out his arm has been replaced with a grappling hook) and the fact that Aaron Dobson is terrible, he still managed to make up for his own late interception by staging a game-winning drive with no timeouts and only 73 seconds left on the clock.

Football coaches and analysts will always tell you that football is the ultimate team game, and that one player in football can never win a game for you single-handedly, the way a great baseball player or basketball player can. But in the case of a Hall of Fame QB Brady, that’s a lie. Hall of Fame QBs somehow make victories happen with no timeouts and a handful of loose plywood to work with, and it’s always fun to watch it when it happens. I still don’t quite know how Brady did that.

Also, bonus points to David Ortiz for making Twitter blow up just as the Cowboys were finishing the Skins. The man sure has his timing down.

VILLAIN: Phil Mushnick

It was only a matter of time before some enterprising columnist out there wrote an "I’m not afraid to say it that Adrian Peterson is a deadbeat!" HOT TAKE. My money was on Jason Whitlock all the way, but I forgot about the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick, who rushed out this trolltastic gem: "It&#x2019;s sickening the NFL&#x2019;s latest MVP, hours after his son died — allegedly murdered — declared he was ’ready to roll,’ ready to play football. Me? I&#x2019;d be fighting for breath, my knees weak with grief, demanding to know why, who, how. Then, I suspect, I&#x2019;d seethe with rage, swearing retribution." Every New York Post op-ed column MUST include the writer acting out a vigilante fantasy. It’s company policy.

Anyway, Mushnick has a habit for writing shit like this, so it’s not exactly a surprise that he would find a way to thumb his nose at a dude who A) Just discovered that he fathered a love child and B) Met that love child on his deathbed. You could make a very, very quiet argument that perhaps Peterson was better served not playing yesterday (in a game where the Vikings got crushed anyway), but most people agree there’s no wrong way to grieve (apart from the whole "swearing retribution" thing, perhaps). God only knows what Peterson was feeling in the wake of this horrifying discovery: shock, grief, guilt, shame, anger, etc. I think it’s safe to say that he was in an uncommon situation, and that Mushnick was far more interested in staking out his little piece of contrarian territory than in maturely discussing the very thorny issue of absentee fatherhood in America. OMG I’VE GOT A GREAT ANGLE ON THE DEAD KID. Looking forward to Mushnick’s "Yeah but David Ortiz did steroids" post later today.

They cheered for Matt Schaub’s injury. Even Andre Johnson said that was a classless move, and Andre Johnson is legally mute. I don’t think I had ever heard him speak until yesterday. There will always be a disconnect between A) Drunken fans who act as if the players they’re watching aren’t real human beings and B) Players who would like drunken fans to remember that they are real human beings. Fans are inherently selfish people: They believe that the players are there to play for THEM, and that they should do everything the fans ask of them. And that’s how you end up with a bunch of people cheering when an already struggling quarterback gets hurt. Anyway, there’s no coming back from that. Once your fans are so depressed that they’ll misguidedly cheer for injuries, the well is poisoned for the season.

HERO: Thad Lewis

He did all the stuff Brady did yesterday, only his name was Thad Lewis, and the Bills still ended up losing somehow.

VILLAIN: Whatever vengeful God despises Bills quarterbacks

Just as the Bills thought they had found a capable temp replacement for the injured EJ Manuel, poor Lewis sprained his foot. They might even have to pick up Matt Flynn for next week. What did the people of Buffalo ever do to YOU, God? This seems like excessive punishment. Even Phil Mushnick thinks its unfair.

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